Eric certainly thought this, no matter what his brother's opinion might be, and believed there was every reason for Captain Brown taking the pride in the vessel that he did.
"There you are," said the skipper to the brothers, taking them with him to survey her from the jetty when all her preparations were finished, the vessel only waiting his mandate to haul out into the river--"did you ever see sich a tarnation duck of a beauty in all yer born days, hey ?" "She looks very pretty," observed Fritz admiringly.
"Blow thet!" exclaimed the skipper with a laugh.

"Folks would think you were talkin' 'bout a gal; but, what ken a longshore fellow know 'bout a shep!" he added compassionately.

"What d'ye say 'bout her Mas' Eric, hey ?" "I say she's a regular clipper, captain," answered the lad in prompt sailor fashion, much to the skipper's delight.

Eric's encomium was all the more appreciative from the fact of his having been familiar with the ship through part of her last voyage.

Then, she was all battered and bruised from her conflict with the elements during her cruise in southern seas; so, now, her present transformation and gala trim made the difference in her appearance all the more striking to him, causing her good points to shine out with all the greater display and hiding most of her drawbacks.
"Ah, thet's your sort of 'pinion I likes," said the skipper in reply to Eric's tribute to the vessel's merits.